Malaysia’s Low Zi Yu and Noraqilah Maisarah Ramdan continued their breakthrough campaign at the Australian Open, advancing to their first-ever BWF World Tour Super 500 quarter-final with a convincing victory in Sydney.
The world No. 84 pair defeated Australia’s Jazmine Lam and Lim Yee Yuan 21-9, 21-18 at the Quaycentre on Thursday, extending a remarkable run that has quickly made them one of the tournament’s standout stories.
The teenagers entered the tournament as underdogs but announced themselves in spectacular fashion by stunning Taiwan’s world No. 8 combination Hsieh Pei Shan and Hung En Tzu in the opening round. Their latest victory further underlined their growing confidence and ability to challenge higher-ranked opponents on the world stage.
The quarter-final appearance marks a significant milestone for Zi Yu and Noraqilah, who suffered a first-round exit at the Malaysia Masters just a month ago. Their rapid progress reflects a promising upward trajectory, having also claimed a notable win over Japan’s world No. 7 pair Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi earlier this season.
Their reward is a difficult quarter-final clash against Indonesia’s world No. 15 duo Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Meilysa Trias Puspitasari.
The Indonesians booked their place in the last eight after comfortably defeating Ukraine’s Polina Buhrova and Yevheniia Kantemyr 21-9, 21-12. Febriana and Meilysa arrive in Sydney with strong credentials, having finished runners-up at last year’s Australian Open and captured a silver medal at the Southeast Asian Games.
Despite facing another higher-ranked opponent, Zi Yu and Noraqilah will take confidence from their giant-killing run, which has already produced some of the biggest upsets of the tournament.
Elsewhere, it was a mixed day for the Malaysian camp.
Noraqilah’s run in the mixed doubles came to an end alongside partner Loo Bing Kun after they were beaten by Thailand’s world No. 13 pair Ruttanapak Oupthong and Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat.
In the men’s doubles, Chia Wei Jie and Teo Ee Yi also exited the competition despite taking the opening game against Taiwan’s Chen Cheng Kuan and Liu Kuang Heng. The Malaysians eventually fell 13-21, 21-18, 21-17, continuing a frustrating streak that has seen them fail to progress beyond the round of 16 in all four World Tour events since forming their partnership at the Thailand Open in May.
